Eurasia Press & News
Defense and foreign ministers left in dark on PM’s Saudi trip
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not inform Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz or Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi when he went to Saudi Arabia on Sunday night, political sources revealed on Monday.
Netanyahu continued the trend of not informing Gantz and Ashkenazi of key diplomatic developments. He also did not inform them in advance of the agreements he reached with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen went to Saudi Arabia with Netanyahu and US Secetary of State Mike Pompeo to meet with Saudi Crown Prime Muhammad bin Salman and not Gantz, who is minister of defense.
Gantz criticized Netanyahu, not for not telling him about the visit before it took place but for telling the world about it afterward.
“Leaking the secret flight of the prime minister was irresponsible,” Gantz said. “That is not what I would do as prime minister, and that is not how I have ever behaved. I think the citizens of Israel should be worried.”
Sources close to Gantz and Ashkenazi said they were not upset about being left in the dark again.
“It is improper that I was not told of the deal in advance but what matters is that the deal was made at all,” Gantz told The Jerusalem Post in September about the UAE deal. “There is a difference between a basic surprise out of nowhere, being astounded, which is not what this was, and a situational surprise, that it happened now.”
Gantz criticized Netanyahu for postponing Sunday’s security cabinet meeting from Sunday to Monday. It turned out the reason for the delay was the flight to Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu’s associates criticized Gantz for forming a ministerial committee to investigate the purchase of submarines while Netanyahu was on the way to Saudi Arabia.
“While Gantz is playing politics, Netanyahu is making peace,” Netanyahu’s social media adviser Topaz Luk wrote on Twitter.
